NEWTON, MA | September 29, 2010
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), has won a five-year, $10.5-million award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to run the National Center for Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness as a partner with Bank Street College of Education.
The center is one of four national training and technical assistance centers announced this month by the HHS Office of Head Start. It will provide research-based strategies for working with children who speak languages other than English in classrooms and other learning environments.
“As a leader in the field of early childhood education, EDC has made cultural and linguistic responsiveness to diverse populations an integral part of our mission,” said Senior Vice President Joanne P. Brady, director of EDC’s Learning and Teaching Division. “Bank Street is a pioneer in improving classroom quality and promoting innovation, and EDC has a long and successful history developing materials and training support for Head Start programs, staff, and families. It’s a great match.”
The goal of the center is to promote research-based educational practices and to ensure that linguistically and culturally diverse preschool children and their families receive optimal support. The new center will also conduct national training events to advance understanding of how culture and dual language development in children affect learning.
“We are so pleased to have this opportunity to promote learning for young dual-language learners—the largest growing segment of the population,” said Dr. Joanne Knapp-Philo, a noted early childhood education researcher at Sonoma State University, who will join the EDC team and direct the new center. “Assuring that children and families with various cultural and linguistic backgrounds go to school ready to learn is one of the most important responsibilities we have.”
All four of the new training and technical assistance centers will support and promote improvement and innovation in Head Start classrooms around the country. Each year Head Start serves 1 million children during the first years of their cognitive and social development.
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), is a global nonprofit organization that develops, delivers, and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health, and economic development. Visit www.edc.org.
